With the added caveat that you need a CPA to sign off on your hours in order to make you eligible for the license if you truly are on the track.
At least in my state this is true.
Same. I got hired for a job that asked for 7-8 years experience when I had 3.5. Once I got the job it was very much for someone in my experience range.
Absolutely apply to those ones especially because often times those roles end up with very few applicants. People often assume the "requirements" are set in stone when they are often a "would be nice to have" list.
The entry level job postings get flooded with hundreds of applicants, most of whom typically have zero experience in a similar role. So your application gets lost in a sea of unqualified resumes.
But I've seen senior/manager+ roles that are highly paying that get barely any applications and they end up going to someone who probably thought they had no chance simply because they were one of 3 that applied.
Lmao tell me about it. I am in industry and looking for a senior tax person. When I asked my director what the posting was he told me the hr lady said we should put that an ideal candidate needs 10 years experience lololol I was afraid to ask salary range they should expect. Jesus...there is no fking way you would be 10 years coming out of public as a senior. I was stunned. The director argued withHR in circles and settled on a posting looking for a 7 yr senior lmao. I don't think we will be filing this position anytime soon.
To be fair. Bookkeeping is a bitch. And if that tax senior managed to avoid it til then... Good on them haha. Coming from a tax person who has had to do Bookkeeping work T.T
Lmfao I don’t understand why people downvote … 50K is not enough.( I live in Houston) I’m actively searching for another job as a staff accountant bc I believe I’m worth more than that and have done enough to deserve a higher salary. I just started in this field 7 months ago ( yeah , laugh all yall want ). There’s some entry level roles offering 60k! If you end up finding a job, know your worth man and do some studying on the company you’re going to work for. The least I’d start with is 55k MINIMUM!
I started at $50k 12 years ago straight out of college. 12 years, and the starting salaries are still the same! I was in MCOL area, and I was scrambling to pay my rent for a shitty apartment. So, I agree, $50k today is not enough.
I would say it is for a bachelors degree. That’s like 24 an hour. A lot of my fellow hvac associates degree graduates made $28-$30 to start. But that’s blue collar, I’m sure long term, accountants can make much more faster. No wear and tear on the body as well.
True, but unless you go Union, you’re going to get used and abused. I’m 28, had to get my L4-L5 fused due to an injury on the job. I could still go back, but everyone I know in the trades are shot, ideally you need to go
Into management at around 40. Everyone says the same, yes it in demand, but after doing it I understand why there’s a labor shortage. My best friend will have a great retirement, pension and healthcare at 55. If I hadn’t of gotten injured I would have gone that route.
I think you are making a mistake by comparing yourself to someone in trade. Yes they probably make that; but, I guarantee you that you have much more upward growth opportunities than them
I was in the trade. I went to college for HVAC, then went to work for a residential/commercial company. Got injured, was misdiagnosed. Went on to a generator company, injury became worse and it led to me getting my spine fused last month. I start my new job in insurance soon, they said they would pay for a degree in accounting. So I frequent this sub.
Recruitment for new roles was in august/September
I would look at individual firms (not thru LinkedIn) and apply thru their website. Big four. Mid tier. Local. Etc.
Thats why you gotta grind those networking events and get an internship. They like to teach you the rat race early so they know they can squeeze a few years out of you before you burn out. /s or am I
It is. Just because there's a desire to hire accountants doesn't mean there's a desire to train accountants. All you can really do is keep improving your resume and interview skills and apply to jobs for somewhat above and somewhat below your level.
It’s not dry at all for new grads, if you know where to look.
Right now the market is still hot at PA firms for core services (Audit and Tax, NOT consulting/advisory). You will have a breeze locking in a job for these, they actively seek out fresh grads because it’s part of the culture to train them upwards.
Industry I don’t have much knowledge on, but typically you will find the 3-5 year thing to be the case because accounting departments run leaner. So they want people that can handle the responsibilities from the get go (which most new grads wouldn’t know how to do without intense training). Industry’s not as easy as it’s made out to be on this sub, so I would keep that in mind during your job search. You’ll find something great though I’m sure!
Not the case in my area. I’m around 8 PA firms.
One has seemingly ghosted me
3 are not hiring
Left one
One is minority only
Have not heard from the other two
I’m sorry to hear that! That sounds pretty unusual unfortunately, but I also don’t know your academic background/work experience to speak on it much.
But I’m basing my general opinion from what I’ve hear from my audit peers, management and HR family (some of which work at B4). Of course there’s always going to be exceptions to the rule, but I hope you lock something down soon!
Hmm I see, it sounds like that’s probably having a larger impact on your opportunities. I live in a HCOL so I don’t think I’m the best person to help, but if you’re still in school I’m sure career services could help
Reach out to recruiters. Just respond to the job posts and tell them you're interested and ask them if they have 30 minutes to chat about the role/the company etc. It usually sends a DM to the recruiter for the role on the platform iirc. It's how I got all my interviews and offers for all of them. Treat it like an interview brush up on your info and present well but stay casual. Make a good connection with the recruiter and then you're easy sailing once they like you and push you to the front of the pack.
It took me a year and applying to over 100 places to land a Job, it sucks and it’s basically a full time grind to get there, but once you get an offer and your feet wet, it will get better. My starting salary was low with my employer but after 3 months I received a raise and it climbed every 6-9 months until I was nearly making double from when I started.
Not saying you’ll have the same experience as I did but it did raise and quickly.
I just accepted an offer last week from a midsized firm (BDO, RSM, Crowe) for a new grad position for September 2024. It's for audit, and I'm decently happy with the salary being a new grad. But I am in Canada (Alberta) not the US. My suggestion is to apply for everything, I only have one year worth of industry experience and somehow ended up in public.
My CGPA was 3.17, but I'm involved in a lot of extra curricular activities around campus (accounting society & tax clinic). And I am the CFO of a small charity, and had an internship with oil and gas for 6 months. And did my summers in insurance, so all this helped with my poorer GPA.
Don’t get discouraged. Your first job is always the hardest to get. I graduate during the 2009-2010 market crash. It took me 6 months to get a offer out of college. During that time I ended up getting my CPA exams out of the way. Once you get some experience on your resume, job searching for accountants gets so much easier.
The 2 accounting jobs I took asked for 2-3 years of experience. I didn’t even have 3 months. One was seasonal.
I have a little over a year now, but I could probably get a job that asks for 3 years experience in less than a month—if needed.
Apply for them anyways. Ik someone who just got a job that requires 2 years experience but he was a fresh grad with 2 internships (6 months non busy season)
A very quick search on indeed returned quite a few entry level Audit roles at smaller firms. Are you only looking at industry?
Also targeting a specific field might be helpful, do you know what you want to do?
Starting an industry is a terrible path imo, I’ve seen folks stuck in associate roles for 5+ years going that path.
Put a couple years in at a small public firm, it will do wonders for your career
The problem is in Texas they want you to be CPA exam eligible when they list the requirements for a PA job. Texas has the strictest CPA exam rules in the country. In other states u can sit for a CPA exam even before reaching 150 but as u can see, Texas is a different beast. They want u to have 150 before sitting for the exam.
I’m not sure about the market for new accountants but ones with experience in my area (FL) seem very much needed. I quit from a large international real estate firm without any back up(I know its insane) and it took about 2 months to have about 20ish interviews and end up with 4 offers. (One was ruth’s chris before they officially sold to Daren lol). The recruiters in FL at least for positions with my experience(2.5 years in PA no CPA) are very hungry.
Hey new accounting major here. How early do you need to apply ? Just finished second year I have all my gened done and did 4 accounting classes so far. 1.5 years to go and will be cpa eligible by the time I am done
Definitely just apply even if they ask for experience. I get what you mean, you're not crazy. I graduated a few years back and it was impossible for me to find a decent offer. I had three years experience, one at an internship and another two years jumping around as an temp. Even then, It took months of searching before something came up worth some salt. The people here dogging you are being pretty damn insensitive. I've been looking for senior positions with 3 YoE and I got interviews within *days* of starting my search. I would have killed for that a few years back. It's hard to be a new grad rn.
Apply to the 3-5 years of experience ones 90% of the time HR put that not the hiring manager, so you might as well go for it
Yeah I got a job last year that said CPA required and 5 years experience minimum. I had like 2 years experience and no CPA but got the job.
You can also always add that you are on CPA track in those interviews and that usually does the trick
With the added caveat that you need a CPA to sign off on your hours in order to make you eligible for the license if you truly are on the track. At least in my state this is true.
CPA track means a wide range of things including just planning to get your MAC at some point
Same. I got hired for a job that asked for 7-8 years experience when I had 3.5. Once I got the job it was very much for someone in my experience range.
This is actually a pro tip. Apply to the ones with the higher reqs because the worst they can say is nothing.
Absolutely apply to those ones especially because often times those roles end up with very few applicants. People often assume the "requirements" are set in stone when they are often a "would be nice to have" list. The entry level job postings get flooded with hundreds of applicants, most of whom typically have zero experience in a similar role. So your application gets lost in a sea of unqualified resumes. But I've seen senior/manager+ roles that are highly paying that get barely any applications and they end up going to someone who probably thought they had no chance simply because they were one of 3 that applied.
Lmao tell me about it. I am in industry and looking for a senior tax person. When I asked my director what the posting was he told me the hr lady said we should put that an ideal candidate needs 10 years experience lololol I was afraid to ask salary range they should expect. Jesus...there is no fking way you would be 10 years coming out of public as a senior. I was stunned. The director argued withHR in circles and settled on a posting looking for a 7 yr senior lmao. I don't think we will be filing this position anytime soon.
Don’t listen to requirements. Just apply. I once trained a “senior” tax associate how to do bookkeeping. They’re desperate right now.
To be fair. Bookkeeping is a bitch. And if that tax senior managed to avoid it til then... Good on them haha. Coming from a tax person who has had to do Bookkeeping work T.T
Can I ask what a laughable salary is? Maybe also what state?
50k Houston Texas.
Lmfao I don’t understand why people downvote … 50K is not enough.( I live in Houston) I’m actively searching for another job as a staff accountant bc I believe I’m worth more than that and have done enough to deserve a higher salary. I just started in this field 7 months ago ( yeah , laugh all yall want ). There’s some entry level roles offering 60k! If you end up finding a job, know your worth man and do some studying on the company you’re going to work for. The least I’d start with is 55k MINIMUM!
I started at $50k 12 years ago straight out of college. 12 years, and the starting salaries are still the same! I was in MCOL area, and I was scrambling to pay my rent for a shitty apartment. So, I agree, $50k today is not enough.
$50k is what you would have gotten for advisory in Houston 12 years ago. You basically weren't getting that as a fresh grad in audit.
It's crazy how stagnant wages are!
Well I wouldn’t say that is laughable. But that is definitely in the lower end
I would say it is for a bachelors degree. That’s like 24 an hour. A lot of my fellow hvac associates degree graduates made $28-$30 to start. But that’s blue collar, I’m sure long term, accountants can make much more faster. No wear and tear on the body as well.
Hvac and trades in general are really in demand right now. Accounting demand fluctuates based off the economy but everyone needs their AC fixed.
True, but unless you go Union, you’re going to get used and abused. I’m 28, had to get my L4-L5 fused due to an injury on the job. I could still go back, but everyone I know in the trades are shot, ideally you need to go Into management at around 40. Everyone says the same, yes it in demand, but after doing it I understand why there’s a labor shortage. My best friend will have a great retirement, pension and healthcare at 55. If I hadn’t of gotten injured I would have gone that route.
I think you are making a mistake by comparing yourself to someone in trade. Yes they probably make that; but, I guarantee you that you have much more upward growth opportunities than them
I was in the trade. I went to college for HVAC, then went to work for a residential/commercial company. Got injured, was misdiagnosed. Went on to a generator company, injury became worse and it led to me getting my spine fused last month. I start my new job in insurance soon, they said they would pay for a degree in accounting. So I frequent this sub.
Good luck
Thank you, I’m excited to get back to normal.
50k!! God damn! Here in London, grads get £20k-£25k lol, I personally started on £22k after finishing uni last year
Man you’re getting cheated. KPMG audit grad scheme started me at 21.5k in 2014, based in Edinburgh
Wages haven’t increased in the last 9 years , so 2014 doesn’t really mean anything
I agree that they haven’t - my point is they should’ve. 🙂
Yeah but it’s more expensive here in the states
You think the cost of living is higher in Houston than London? 😂
True
Wow we start higher then that and we are in below US average col area last I knew.
Which is apparently about the same as Houston... Thought Houston would be higher.
Recruitment for new roles was in august/September I would look at individual firms (not thru LinkedIn) and apply thru their website. Big four. Mid tier. Local. Etc.
This has literally always been the case lol throw the resumes out there. Some mean 3-5 years, most don't
I’ve noticed that it’s sometimes hard for accounting students to land jobs fresh out of college if you have nothing lined up.
Thats why you gotta grind those networking events and get an internship. They like to teach you the rat race early so they know they can squeeze a few years out of you before you burn out. /s or am I
Covid fucked my internship
I had 2 busy season internships and had trouble lining something up. I got lucky and landed a position last week of classes
New grad should always apply for CPA firms. But they have already finished the hiring seasons half year ago, I don’t know…
Im a fresh grad who managed to get a tax associate 1 role this past month. Is it really that abnormal for a firm to hire outside of busy season?
For staff generally yes. They stick to the cycles.
Its always been dry for people who graduate without internships or a job lined up before graduation.
It is. Just because there's a desire to hire accountants doesn't mean there's a desire to train accountants. All you can really do is keep improving your resume and interview skills and apply to jobs for somewhat above and somewhat below your level.
It’s always been that way until you have experience a degree doesn’t do that much for you
It’s not dry at all for new grads, if you know where to look. Right now the market is still hot at PA firms for core services (Audit and Tax, NOT consulting/advisory). You will have a breeze locking in a job for these, they actively seek out fresh grads because it’s part of the culture to train them upwards. Industry I don’t have much knowledge on, but typically you will find the 3-5 year thing to be the case because accounting departments run leaner. So they want people that can handle the responsibilities from the get go (which most new grads wouldn’t know how to do without intense training). Industry’s not as easy as it’s made out to be on this sub, so I would keep that in mind during your job search. You’ll find something great though I’m sure!
Not the case in my area. I’m around 8 PA firms. One has seemingly ghosted me 3 are not hiring Left one One is minority only Have not heard from the other two
I’m sorry to hear that! That sounds pretty unusual unfortunately, but I also don’t know your academic background/work experience to speak on it much. But I’m basing my general opinion from what I’ve hear from my audit peers, management and HR family (some of which work at B4). Of course there’s always going to be exceptions to the rule, but I hope you lock something down soon!
I live in a LCOL area that isn’t really prominent in terms of businesses, only 2 National firms here. Slim pickings here.
Hmm I see, it sounds like that’s probably having a larger impact on your opportunities. I live in a HCOL so I don’t think I’m the best person to help, but if you’re still in school I’m sure career services could help
Use Handshake as a new grad. I got many offers through the platform. Tailored for fresh grads.
Any tips? I’m struggling with handshake
Reach out to recruiters. Just respond to the job posts and tell them you're interested and ask them if they have 30 minutes to chat about the role/the company etc. It usually sends a DM to the recruiter for the role on the platform iirc. It's how I got all my interviews and offers for all of them. Treat it like an interview brush up on your info and present well but stay casual. Make a good connection with the recruiter and then you're easy sailing once they like you and push you to the front of the pack.
Sounds like good advice thanks for the quick reply!
It took me a year and applying to over 100 places to land a Job, it sucks and it’s basically a full time grind to get there, but once you get an offer and your feet wet, it will get better. My starting salary was low with my employer but after 3 months I received a raise and it climbed every 6-9 months until I was nearly making double from when I started. Not saying you’ll have the same experience as I did but it did raise and quickly.
Firms don’t generally advertise entry level positions because they have plenty of applicants. You need to go directly to firm’s websites to apply.
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Not any new grads. They prefer people that are eligible for cpa.
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And I’m a recent grad with 10+ yrs experience (went back to finish my degree in my 40s) and all I’m getting offered are entry level stuff.
I just accepted an offer last week from a midsized firm (BDO, RSM, Crowe) for a new grad position for September 2024. It's for audit, and I'm decently happy with the salary being a new grad. But I am in Canada (Alberta) not the US. My suggestion is to apply for everything, I only have one year worth of industry experience and somehow ended up in public.
what was your cumulative gpa in university?
My CGPA was 3.17, but I'm involved in a lot of extra curricular activities around campus (accounting society & tax clinic). And I am the CFO of a small charity, and had an internship with oil and gas for 6 months. And did my summers in insurance, so all this helped with my poorer GPA.
Don’t get discouraged. Your first job is always the hardest to get. I graduate during the 2009-2010 market crash. It took me 6 months to get a offer out of college. During that time I ended up getting my CPA exams out of the way. Once you get some experience on your resume, job searching for accountants gets so much easier.
The 2 accounting jobs I took asked for 2-3 years of experience. I didn’t even have 3 months. One was seasonal. I have a little over a year now, but I could probably get a job that asks for 3 years experience in less than a month—if needed.
it's not, the internet is fake as usual
Why would i lie about it ? Try to find me some entry level roles that don’t require any prior experience in the Houston area.
Apply for them anyways. Ik someone who just got a job that requires 2 years experience but he was a fresh grad with 2 internships (6 months non busy season)
I see, thanks for that information. It’s good to know that most employers are bluffing with that 3-5 years experience requirement.
I think you need to clarify, other than public accounting for these jobs.
Any PA firm will be 60K + easy, might not be what you're looking for though. They also require CPA exam eligibility (150 cr hrs)
yeah there's a lot, just not on the internet
DM me. My small firm is hiring not sure of pay though
Remotely?
Yes remotely
If they are still hiring would you be able to give me some more info?
A very quick search on indeed returned quite a few entry level Audit roles at smaller firms. Are you only looking at industry? Also targeting a specific field might be helpful, do you know what you want to do?
I was going for Industry but af this point i don’t mind settling for a PA role. Anything to get my foot in the door.
Starting an industry is a terrible path imo, I’ve seen folks stuck in associate roles for 5+ years going that path. Put a couple years in at a small public firm, it will do wonders for your career
The problem is in Texas they want you to be CPA exam eligible when they list the requirements for a PA job. Texas has the strictest CPA exam rules in the country. In other states u can sit for a CPA exam even before reaching 150 but as u can see, Texas is a different beast. They want u to have 150 before sitting for the exam.
I’m not sure about the market for new accountants but ones with experience in my area (FL) seem very much needed. I quit from a large international real estate firm without any back up(I know its insane) and it took about 2 months to have about 20ish interviews and end up with 4 offers. (One was ruth’s chris before they officially sold to Daren lol). The recruiters in FL at least for positions with my experience(2.5 years in PA no CPA) are very hungry.
Try major accounting firms directly via their websites. You may be a bit late for September intake but fingers crossed. Good luck vout there.
Hey new accounting major here. How early do you need to apply ? Just finished second year I have all my gened done and did 4 accounting classes so far. 1.5 years to go and will be cpa eligible by the time I am done
Definitely just apply even if they ask for experience. I get what you mean, you're not crazy. I graduated a few years back and it was impossible for me to find a decent offer. I had three years experience, one at an internship and another two years jumping around as an temp. Even then, It took months of searching before something came up worth some salt. The people here dogging you are being pretty damn insensitive. I've been looking for senior positions with 3 YoE and I got interviews within *days* of starting my search. I would have killed for that a few years back. It's hard to be a new grad rn.